Module 3: Composting Systems

“For people who are used to depending on the supermarket for food, it is easy to forget that what we eat depends entirely on fertile soil. Sir Albert Howard, a pioneer of the organic agriculture movement, considered that the fertility of the soil determines the future of civilization.

The North African desert, for example, used to be the grain growing area for Rome, until the soil was strip-mined of nutrients by improper farming practices.” John Jeavons and Carol Cox, authors of The Sustainable Vegetable Garden

If there are any real secrets to growing bigger and better crops, then composting would probably be at the top of the list. In this module you’ll discover the importance of compost and we’ll help you set up the foundation of your own composting system.

“Non-gardeners often think that compost making must be a smelly affair. They simply assume that decaying food scraps and manure must smell and attract flies and vermin. Actually there is a big difference between a well-made compost pile and a heap of carbage.” – Frank Tozer, author of The Organic Growers Handbook

Upon completion of Module 3 you will be able to:

Beginners:

Explain the importance of compost.

Set up your own bucket composting system.

Advanced:

Identify the best composting materials in your garden

Grow your own compost crops

Start and outdoor compost bin

Start a worm farm

Start a once-a-year compost heap

“So often the obvious solution is right at our fingertips, but it looks so simple that we fail to notice. Generations of gardeners have consistently come up with the same chain of logic: a fertile soil is the key to growing garden vegetables; compost is the key to a fertile soil.”- Eliot Coleman, author of Four-Season Harvest